Reviews on gear and software

Mini review Minolta 85mm 1.4

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Today a mini review of the Minolta 85mm 1.4 AF lens.

 

Lens : Minolta 85mm 1.4 AF
Year : around 2000 (?)
Price paid : app 650.00 US

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA

Now one could argue on why to buy a fast 85mm lens, I already own the Sony 70-200 f2.8 which is a very nice lens and is used in 80% of the sessions I do and the DOF on f2.8 with a 70-200 on 200mm gives you a very very nice portrait look, so why would one buy a 1.4 85mm lens?

 

Well there are different reasons, first of all for example street portraits. The 1.4 speed will give you a lot of “speed” for when the light situations are not perfect or when shooting inside, however the length of the lens makes it a bit of a limited lens, it’s a great portrait lens but if I would have only one lens on my body I would prefer the 24-70 f2.8 for street style shooting or the Minolta 35-200 if I don’t need the speed. So for me to be honest buying this lens new was not an option, with prices for the incredibly nice Sony 85mm 1.4 (which I shot the first few weeks when I got my A99 for review) in the 1300.00 Euro range, for me that is just a bit too much for a lens that I would just use on some occasions when I want to “play” with it…… But luckily we have internet where I found a “Like new” version for app. 650.00 US which I actually was willing to pay. So how does the lens perform.

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Mini review Super Takumar 55mm f2

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Now this is a funny little lens.
Lens: Super Takumar 55mm F2.0 M42
Year : around the early 1960’s
Price paid : $ 19.00 (yeah no kidding)
Pentax55This is a lens that is fully manual and needs a convertor to be used on your system, this means it will work on all systems that provide a convertor. The mount is called the M42 mount and has it’s origins with the company Zeiss for it’s Contax S cameras but was also used by Pentacon a brand name and later Praktica. Because it was a great mount that could be used for many different systems the popularity grew very quickly in America it was used by Pentax so as you can see it was for that time the “universal” mount.

 

There are some different convertors available to mount these lenses on your DSLR, the one I would advise you to buy is the one that supports the AF confirmation system. This means that although the lens is 100% manual you will at least see when you have proper focus, the convertors will retail for between 20.00 and 40.00 US so they won’t break the bank.

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Rogue striplight video

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I already showed you guys a little bit on the new Rogue flash bender, but today you will see it in action.
Please read the review here, and if you order one…. (and you know you want to) please use the link in the review and support our blog.

the new rogue strip

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Nadine Februari 15 2115-EditI love the guys from Expoimaging, it’s a company that really listens to the wishes of their customers.
I already loved the flashbenders but when I said I would love a strip version it didn’t take that long before they gave me a beta sample of the strip that is released this month, and I can tell you IT ROCKS. Make sure to check it out as soon as it’s released, I’m 100% sure you’re gonna love it.

 

If you like what we do with the blog and you want this product (and I’m sure you will) please order it via this link at B&H (they ship worldwide)

 

Today two images I shot with Nadine while testing the striplight. Also make sure to check out our video with the new flash benders which will be released soon.

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